


AC-Cent-Tchu-Ate the Positive

by Alexismobeal



Category: Wynonna Earp (TV), Wynonna Earp (TV) RPF
Genre: Comedy, Drama, F/F, Friendship, Romance, Romantic Comedy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-03
Updated: 2020-05-27
Packaged: 2021-03-01 20:08:35
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 14,631
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23982850
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Alexismobeal/pseuds/Alexismobeal
Summary: The world is in mandatory lockdown, and rather naively, Nicole has accepted Wynonna's invitation to isolate on the Earp Homestead.  Tempers rise, rules are broken and secrets are threatened when a friendly game of Clue devolves into a wine fuelled game of one-upmanship between Wynonna and Nicole.  Will Nicole prevail or will she be forced to reveal her cards to Waverly?Originally intended to be a one shot, now a three parter.Rated M for eventual stuff and the occasional swearsies.
Relationships: Waverly Earp & Nicole Haught, Waverly Earp/Nicole Haught
Comments: 26
Kudos: 152





	1. AC-Cent-Tchu-Ate the Positive

**Author's Note:**

> My first ever Earp fic. I'm a bit late to the party. As a Brit, it felt dirty not writing Cluedo. Hope you enjoy and comments are appreciated. Apologies for any mistakes!

AC-Cent-Tchu-Ate the Positive, eliminate the negative, latch on to the affirmative, don't mess with mister in-between.

‘Come on Miss Scarlett,’ Nicole spoke softly as she nudged her girlfriend in the side and took a generous sip of Malbec. ‘Your move.’

The sheriff was met with a pout and a furrowed brow. It was weird to think that through all the time they’d been together, they’d never played board games, and that spontaneous, brilliant Waverly had turned into a cool, calculated Miss Scarlett at the slightest sniff of competition. She’d even donned a particularly alluring shade of red lipstick, for manipulation purposes of course, not that Nicole was complaining.

Waverly’s eyes narrowed as she assessed the board in front of her. ‘I’m thinking.’ 

An audible sigh came from the other side of the game board. Wynonna was getting impatient. You didn’t need to be a detective to work that out. She’d emptied her glass, rearranged her hand, poured another glass, emptied that, mimed hanging herself with the miniature noose that came in the box…

‘You don’t need to think to roll, Waves.’ Yep, Wynonna was losing it.

Waverly just smiled sweetly at her sister, knowing full well the pace of the game was making the older Earp’s skin crawl. ‘I like to plot my next move, survey the board, weigh up the possibilities. By failing to prepare, you’re preparing to fail.’

Wynonna tried to suppress the involuntary eyeroll, ‘Did you learn that from spy school?’

The younger woman scowled at her sister, and smirked. ‘No, I learned it from watching you, learning the hard way.’

Nicole hid her scoff at Wynonna’s expense in a large gulp of wine. Femme Fatale Waverly was savage. ‘That’s me. Wynonna Earp, positive role model for young and impressionable since 1989.’

‘However’, Waverly pointed, somewhat drunkenly, at her sister, ‘I’ll have you know that I am now a fully qualified international woman of mystery and you can view my diploma online at [www.CentreofExcellence.com](http://www.centreofexcellence.com/). I’m pretty sure that makes me the most qualified person here.’ She grinned proudly, and Wynonna couldn’t help but do the same. Waverly’s smiles were infectious.

The older sister snickered and shook her head ever so slightly. ‘Sounds reeeeal legit, Waves.’

Miss Scarlett’s brow crinkled as she thought out loud, ‘Actually, I’m pretty sure I was already the most qualified person here.’

Nicole smiled warmly at the thought of how accomplished her girlfriend was. How incredibly smart she was. How beautiful and funny and talented she was. How badass she was. How had she gotten so lucky with Waverly Earp? Considering, Nicole thought, that she wasn’t offering Waverly any of those things, she sometimes wondered how she’d managed to woo the younger Earp. _Waverly-gorram-Earp_. 

‘My baby’s so smart.’ She leaned in and brushed a kiss across her girlfriend’s wine flushed cheeks. They were hot when pressed against the sensitive skin of her lips, and she could feel Waverly’s smile grow against her kiss.

The scoffing from across the board pulled Nicole from her reverie. They’d been in lockdown together for four, nearly five days, and surprisingly it had been Wynonna that suggested Nicole’s relocation to the homestead during their mandatory isolation. Her reasoning? Without Nicole, Waverly would become unbearable. _A lovesick puppy deprived of her bone._ Those had been Wynonna’s actual words, and of course, she’d put extra emphasis on the bone bit. 

At first, things were as good as they’d always been, despite Nicole’s nervousness. But why shouldn’t it go well? She’d spent time at the homestead before. Never for weeks in a row mind you, but for a couple of nights here, a couple there. Her and Waverly certainly hadn’t had any problems with spending any extended time together, and they’d always found ways to fill it, but she knew that sometimes her and Wynonna would get under each other’s feet a little. 

They were pretty different people, despite the bond they’d formed through their mutual love for Waverly, and those differences were starting to maybe, just maybe, cause some friction now they had to spend every waking hour in close proximity of each other. Nicole was too neat, got up too early, was too chipper, too productive, too unaffected by the international pandemic raging around them. Not only that, but Nicole was starting to get a vibe that Wynonna wished she’d chosen lovesick Waverly over loved-up-24/7 Waverley. The repressed but still very audible grossed out noises coming from the Earp Heir were evidence to that. So, Nicole decided it was only fair to give as much as she got. They were family after all, right? And what were family for?

Nicole delicately placed one last lingering kiss on Waverly’s flushed cheek, before turning and looking Mrs Peacock dead in the eyes. ‘Wynonna, how have you decided to use all this extra spare time? Knowing you, I’m sure you’ve been spending it productively,’ Nicole smirked.

Wynonna smirked back and met the red head’s eyes. ‘Actually, I’ve cleared out the loft space.’ She looked almost proud of herself. 

Nicole snorted. ‘That doesn’t count when the only thing that was in the loft space was liquor.’ Wynonna grinned. She was liking this game; it was much faster moving than the game of Clue that was spread across the floor in front of them.

‘Well, little miss stick-up-her-butt, what have you been doing?’

The sheriff shrugged, nonchalantly. ‘You know, patrolling the streets, enforcing the lockdown, keeping citizen safe…’

‘My hero.’ This time it was Waverly’s turn to dial up the pda. A small but assured hand crept onto her thigh and Nicole felt pressure there, as her girlfriend’s nose tickled the sensitive skin of her neck and her fingers gripped the flesh ever so slightly through her jeans. It was a subtle, small gesture, but enough to making Nicole’s stomach flip-flop. And of course, this time Wynonna didn’t flinch, she had her game face on. Because Wynonna wasn’t a prude, and she certainly wasn’t a homophobe, but happiness, happiness made her uncomfortable as hell, and Nicole and Waverly were excruciatingly happy. Again, Wynonna’s words.

‘Oh really?’ Wynonna’s eyes narrowed; it was a look that Nicole knew well. She was sizing Nicole up, down the barrel of a gun. _Shit me._ ‘What _else_ pray tell?’ _Does she know-?_

‘She been doing your sister, sista!’ Waverly announced to the homestead, with a wink and a click of the tongue. And with wondrous aplomb the absolute angel that is Waverly throws the die down with a flourish, unbeknownstly saving her languishing girlfriend from the interrogations of one Wynonna Earp. 

The dice scuttled across the board and ricocheted off of wine glasses, and snack bowls, before coming to their final resting place. Waverly had rolled a 5 and a 4, and she was fucking ecstatic. ‘Yes!’ she fist pumped enthusiastically and grabbed her character piece to begin moving it from square to square, across the board. ‘1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9! She’s in library,’ she announced, melodiously.

By that point, Waverly was so gleeful that every word that escaped her mouth wasn’t spoken, it was sung. ‘Now, I get to ask the questions,’ she said with a wicked smile adorning her lips. Nicole felt fear begin to creep back into her stomach. Did Waverly know too? That would not end well for her.

Before she knew it, those small strong hands that a moment ago were on her thighs were now tugging roughly on her lapels. Her girlfriend whipped her hair from her face in one graceful movement and then brought Nicole close. She could feel hot breath prickle upon her skin as Waverly, with one eyebrow raised, looked her dead in the eyes and uttered the words, ‘Tell me everything you know Colonel!’ The manipulation game had begun. Nicole’s brain went blank. 

‘That’s not how the game works, Scarlett,’ Wynonna tutted, loudly, non plussed by the sight before her, but much more concerned about the potential cheating that was about to take place in the Earp Homestead. Wynonna wouldn’t normally object to cheating, but Wynonna wanted to win. That’s why she was always the banker in Monopoly. But, it was no use, Colonel Mustard was already putty in the hands of the Scarlett Woman.

‘Er, how.. how,’ Nicole stuttered. ‘How may I be of service, Miss?’ Waverly smiled, sweetly. She had her girlfriend exactly where she wanted her, at her mercy. It was time for Wynonna to take some serious action.

‘Don’t give in to her Nicole. Remember, you love rules. Rules give your life structure, rules give your life purpose, meaning. Without rules you would be a lifeless husk of a human being.’

Waverly chose to ignore her sister and persisted. And why should she stop? She was certainly getting somewhere with the current line of questioning, especially with this particular questionee. With a flutter of her lashes, she continued. ‘But it’s imperative to the safety and security of this fine nation that you show me your hand, sir.’

‘Calamity Jane, kill your master!’ Wynonna gestured manically to the cat curled up tight in front of the fire, urging her to put an end to any potential rule breakages that were about to take place. As if she had indeed heard the calling of her name, Calamity Jane looked up from her spot by the hearth, quite clearly disgruntled by the raised voices, but only to throw Wynonna a disdainful look and bury her head again. ‘Useless cat,’ Wynonna grumbled.

‘It would be so easy, wouldn’t it? To just…show me?’ Waverly’s eyes were dancing with abandon in the fire light. With what felt like a behemoth effort, Nicole screwed her eyes shut, breaking Waverly’s interrogative gaze, and gently wrapped her fingers around her girlfriend’s wrists.

‘Stop, I forbid it!’ A floral cushion was taken from the floor and hurled in the couple’s direction, but the floral cushion missed, sailing past their heads and into the next room. There was a loud clattering as, what one could only assume was a picture frame, took a tumble onto the hardwood flooring of the Earp Homestead. Again, the cat didn’t jump to Wynonna’s cause. She stretched out for a moment, unfurling, as every muscle in her little body strained and tensed. A moment later she was blissfully relaxed, head peacefully tilted to one side, and curled around herself, oblivious to the battle raging before her.

Nicole swallowed in a pained fashion. She didn’t want to say no, but she had to, it was the right thing to do. It was the only thing to do, because it was a question of integrity, and if there was one thing that Nicole Haught would never sacrifice, it was her integrity. 

With a little tug, Nicole regretfully lowered Waverly’s hands from her lapels, and with a pained smile said, ‘Ma’am, I’m going to have to ask you to _…_ to take your hands off of me.’ Waverly pouted; her lower lip began to tremble. The con was still on. ‘Nope. You gotta guess babe. I can’t, help you.’ Nicole held her hands up in surrender, a white flag on display for each Earp sister.

A delighted Wynonna screamed and threw her hands in the air in delight. ‘I knew it!’, she was now pointing a little too aggressively at Nicole, but it was better than trying to coerce her cat into matricide. ‘I knew you couldn’t!’

Waverly sighed a little with disappointment, causing the loose strands of her bangs to flutter and then settle, framing her forlorn face. She shuffled back to her spot on the floor, not too far from Nicole, picked up her wine glass and took a generous swig. ‘Worth a shot’, she mumbled into it. Nicole couldn’t help but grin. Waverly Earp was always finding new ways to surprise her, they were often quite delightful, and always sexy as hell.

‘So, what’s it going be?’ the Colonel asked, apologetically. ‘You got one of each?’

After some ponderance, Waverly nodded slowly and spoke five words, each perfectly articulated. ‘Library. Candle Stick. Mr Green.’ 

Nicole cringed inwardly, looking down at her cards. No library, no candle stick, and certainly no Mr Green. Her eyes met her girlfriend’s and that was all Waverly needed to know. Her girlfriend was about to let her down for a second time within the space of thirty seconds. The red head smiled painfully and offered an awkward shrug in condolence. ‘Sorry?’

Waverly’s eyes narrowed. ‘You will be.’ With an involuntary gulp, Nicole made a mental note to always lie. 

‘That diploma’s really paying off, huh Waves?’ Wynonna chirped.

‘Hey!’ Waverly yelped, getting to her knees and taking a playful swipe at her sister. Nicole breathed a sigh of relief. Waverly’s mirth had quickly been diverted to her older sister, and it seemed Nicole had managed to escape the wrath of the younger Earp more or less unscathed. _Thank the gods for Wynonna and her quippy mouth._

Wynonna laughed as she batted her sister away with ease. Give Wynonna a bottle of red and her senses sharpened like a sensei after an afternoon of meditation. Give Waverly a glass and she couldn’t hit a cow’s ass with a banjo. ‘Not that you’ve ever needed a piece of paper to prove to us that you’re a world class, one of a kind, ass-kicking super-natural investigator.’

Waverly smiled cutely at her sister. ‘Sweet talker, I’ll let you off’.

But Wynonna wasn’t off the hook. Nicole placed her cards down and turned to the Earp Heir with a smile. ‘Now you have to show yours’.

‘Firstly,’ Wynonna smirked, pointing at the red head, ‘that’s a completely different game that I did not sign up for and this is a worrying insight into your psyche. Secondly, that is not a rule.’

‘Nuh-uh. It is.’ If there was ever an authority on rules, Nicole was it, and this was most definitely the rule.

‘The colonel’s right,’ Waverly interjected, as she grabbed the boardgame box before Wynonna had time to destroy the evidence and began riffling through for the instruction booklet. Upon finding it she hastily flicked through the guide until she settled upon her desired page. ‘If the first person doesn’t have any of the named cards, it moves to the next person, and so on and so forth, until someone reveals a card. So… do you have any of my cards Wynonna?’ she asked, innocently, in the way only a younger sister could get away with.

Nicole was practically crying with pride. Her Waverly, reading an instruction booklet. This was monumental. Wynonna, however, wasn’t best impressed to put it mildly. ‘Oh, so, now you want to play by the rules, huh? What happened to _tell me everything you know Colonel_?’ Another not-so-innocent shrug from Waverly was enough to have Wynonna chastising her sister under her breath. ‘That’s how it is, I see’.

Unphased, Waverly gave a little nod. She knew she was being cute, and she gave very few fucks. ‘Yep. Any cards?’ This was a competition, afterall.

Wynonna rolled her eyes and sighed in defeat. ‘Fine, I only have to reveal one, right?’

Nicole raised an eyebrow. Wynonna had shown her hand, figuratively. ‘Does that mean you have more than one?’

‘Oh, wouldn’t you like to know Detective Haught. Maybe I do have more than one. Maybe you want to mark them down on your little detective card there. Or maybe, just maybe,’ Wynonna leaned across the board towards Nicole until they were practically nose to nose, ‘You’re being played,’ she whispered.

‘You should have more than one, statistically speaki-‘

‘We’ll see, won’t we?’ Wynonna crossed her arms and stuck her chin out in defiance. Nicole could see the cogs frantically turning behind her eyes, and it was at that moment, she knew to be afraid. ‘Actually, you know what?’ There it was. No more Mr Nice Wynonna.

Nicole braced herself for the worst, and it happened. Leaning over the table, and knocking several game pieces as she went, Wynonna made a show of grabbing Waverly by the shoulders and frantically whispering in her ear. A shit-eating grin spread slowing but surely across Waverly’s beautiful face. 

‘Hey! That is _not_ fair, that’s _not_ how you play.’

Her girlfriend shrugged, the same infuriatingly innocent shrug she’d shown to Wynonna moments earlier. ‘Play by the rules, miss all the fun.’

‘Waverly…’ Nicole chided through gritted teeth. The betrayal!

‘All hail the Hepburn!’ Wynonna exclaimed, high fiving her sister in the process.

Nicole threw an admonishing look at Wynonna, who until recently had firmly been in the no cheating camp. Obviously she’d only been pitched up until it suited her and her crooked agenda. ‘Turncoat,’ the red head hissed. 

‘Puh-lease,’ Wynonna was pleased with herself. ‘There are no alliances here, I play to win.' It was becoming increasingly apparent that Wynonna had finally caved to Jeremy and was mid Game of Thrones quarantine binge.

‘You play to win by giving Waves the answers? Excuse me if I don’t see the logic there’.

‘Don’t you want your girlfriend to win? Would that not _please_ you?’

‘I would be happy for Waverly to win. I just…’ Nicole needed a moment. There was too much wrong with this scenario. Why agree play a game and flout the rules? Where’s the fun in that? First her girlfriend was cheating, then her girlfriend’s sister was cheating and now she’s the bad guy for trying to play by the rules? _No way, jos_ **é** _._

After a deep breath and a quiet moment of reflection, Nicole continued; her voice calm and her words reasoned. ‘I just think a game is a construct formed by rules, and if those rules are broken, it ceases to operate effectively as a game, rendering the game un-fun. So, in this way, rules are the facilitators of fun.’ The sheriff gave herself a mental pat on the back. Surely no one could argue with that.

‘For someone who loves rules so much you don’t half love to flout em.’ Wynonna half smiled. There it was again, that little dig at Nicole that felt as loaded as Wynonna probably wished her dice were. 

The sheriff found herself frowning. There was something going on here, and it made her uneasy. Wynonna liked to tease Nicole, for sure, but underneath it all, their relationship was pretty damn solid. Nicole knew though, that if she ever hurt Waverly, she’d be sent down to hell with the rest of them. Hopefully a little more figuratively than literally but with Wynonna, you never did know.

Nicole grabbed her own mental shoulders and gave herself a good old mental shake. Wynonna didn’t know anything, how could she? And even if she did, she wasn’t doing anything wrong…she wasn’t even breaking any rules. Well, maybe bending. _Oh god, I hope she doesn’t know._

Waverly scoffed loudly at the suggestion of her girlfriend breaking rules and Nicole cringed a little, inwardly. ‘I don’t think Nicole has flouted a rule in her life.’ Almost true. There was that one time she put a track and trace on Tucker’s phone, and that other time…

‘Not that you know of, I’ve seen some shit.’ Wynonna gave Nicole a knowing look. _Faaahk_. There it was again.

Waverly shook her head, defiantly. ‘You know those patch tests nobody does before dying their hair?

Wynonna pondered for a moment. ‘I forgot those existed’.

‘Nicole does em. Every time.’ 

Nicole smiled awkwardly, thankful for what was hopefully more than a momentary diversion. ‘It’s better to be safe than sorry. I have sensitive skin.’

‘You dye your hair?’ Wynonna asked, incredulously.

‘And you know you’re not supposed to put batteries in the trash?’ Waverly continued.

‘I did not know that.’ Nicole was not surprised.

‘Me neither!’ Waverly exclaimed, a little giddy. She’d found an ally.

Nicole nodded, matter-of-factly, and made a mental note to check the Homestead for fire risks before bed. ‘They could spark, causing house fires, forest fires, bush fires…’

Wynonna grinned. ‘Bush fires.’

Unphased, Waverly continued. ‘Nicole collects them and disposes of them, responsibly, at designated disposal centres.’

Repressed laughter was beginning to shake Wynonna’s body, laughter that was most certainly at Nicole’s expense. 

The red head frowned a little in indignation. ‘Just doing what any upstanding citizen would.’

‘And to think, I let you into my home.’ The Earp Heir shook her head and drained her wine glass. ‘But!’ she exclaimed, with a crooked smile, whilst reclining into the cushions they’d scattered across the floor, ‘Credit where credit’s due, the place is a lot neater, and I have benefited from your ability to actually cook pasta not too much and not too little.’

Nicole breathed a sigh of relief and smiled at her friend _. Friend, remember that Nicole, she’s your friend._ ‘Al dente?’, she red head offered.

‘Gesundheit,’ Wynonna quipped, and normality had returned.

‘Thank you’. Nicole smiled, and shook her head a little, thankful for the reprieve but as her eyes met Wynonna’s, she couldn’t help but see suspicion there. Kindness, yes, love, yes, alcohol fuelled competitiveness yes, but also suspicion, and that irked her.

Nicole huffed a little as she retrieved the dice from the floor. Whatever was going on could be sorted out later and put to bed, preferably when Waverly wasn’t around. 

She felt hands capture hers, and the delicate brush of lips against her fingers. ‘Good luck, baby,’ whispered Waverly, and her stomach flip flopped. _God, she’s perfect._ And that was why she couldn’t find out. It would spoil everything.

Nicole offered her perfect girlfriend a grateful smile, made a silent prayer to the fates, and rolled. Snake eyes. The fates weren’t with her today, and she desperately hoped it wasn’t a sign of things to come.

An oblivious and beaming Waverly offered her a conciliatory kiss on the cheek. ‘Bad luck baby.’ With as much enthusiasm as Bunny Loblaw granted her the position of Sheriff, Nicole moved her character pieces, two sad places on the gameboard. From the centre of the corridor to a little further down the corridor.

‘My turn!’ Wynonna shouted, eyes glinting gleefully in the fire light. ‘Chuck me the dice Colonel Haught’. With a sigh, Nicole obliged.

With a shake, and a quick blow for luck, Wynonna cast her dice one the gameboard, throwing an 8 and taking out Colonel Mustard in one fell swoop. She threw her hands in the air with a ‘Woop!’ and stamped out every step with aplomb. Nicole wasn’t sure what Wynonna was happier about, throwing an 8 and making it to the lounge, or wiping out Nicole’s game piece. 

‘So…’ Wynonna began, hands clasped, lips pursed ‘The person on my left?’ She glanced, with a raised brow, to her little sister, Waverly. A competitive grin spread across her face.‘Hi Waves. Totally at random, just throwing something out here, one hundred percent unplanned, rolling off the tip of my tongue freestyling okay?’ 

‘Erm, okay?’ Waverly gulped. Often no one would win when Wynonna freestyled.

She pursed her lips for a moment longer, waited a beat, and then hedged her bets. ‘Colonel mustard,’ Nicole glanced up, ‘with the revolver,’ she narrowed her eyes, ‘in the barn.’ And there it was. Wynonna’s eyes flicked to hers. She knew.

‘There is no barn,’ the words tumbled from Nicole’s mouth before she could even think to stop herself. The irritation in her voice was undeniable and it certainly didn’t go unnoticed, by Wynonna or Waverly.

‘Did I say barn? Is there no barn?’. Waverly looked from her sister to Nicole, and back again, a puzzled expression creeping across her features. ‘I could have sworn I saw…’ _What did you see?_ ‘I don’t know where that came from, weird huh?’

‘Probably from the bottom of these three bottles of red, right guys?’

‘Uh huh,’ Nicole assured her girlfriend without taking her eyes off of the sister. ‘That must be it, because Mrs Peacock is in the _lounge_.’

‘Right, right. I’m getting it now. I’m in the lounge so I have to guess the lounge, but I can guess Colonel mustard. That’s you, right?’ Wynonna pointed at Nicole and fired her little finger pistols. The red head nodded, begrudgingly. ‘Okay so, I’m going with you, in the lounge, with the revolver’. _Was that a threat?_

Waverly let out small uncomfortable giggle as the vibe in the room had risen above heatedly-competitive and progressed to dangerously-volatile. She mustered the courage to ask, ‘Am I missing something here?’ She was met with a single, definitive response. 

‘No!’ Wynonna and Nicole chimed shortly and in unison, not taking their eyes from each other.

‘You got any of Wynonna’s cards Waves?’ Nicole asked over the shoulder.

‘Er, sure.’ Waverly sifted through her cards and picked one out. She hesitantly shuffled over to Wynonna and revealed the card to her sister.

‘Thanks sis,’ said Wynonna, earnestly. She picked up her detective card and Ikea pencil and began to scribble, furiously, mumbling to herself in hushed but purposefully audible tones. ‘Commodore Haught, in the barn… with the…bad excuses.’ 

Nicole’s face turned stony. She grabbed what was left of the wine, emptied it into her glass and rolled up her sleeves. She was going to shut Wynonna’s mouth; in the only way she knew how. By playing by the rules and doing some damn good detective work. ‘It is on Wynonna.’

Wynonna’s eyes flashed and danced with delight in the light of the fire. ‘Oh, it is on’.


	2. Somersault

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for all the lovely comments on the previous chapter, and thank you for your patience with this update. This fic just keeps surprising me.

‘Good morning sweetie!’ Waverly chimed melodiously, as she floated downstairs.

‘Morning baby,’ Nicole smiled warmly at the sight of her girlfriend padding into the kitchen, a robe loosely synched around her waist, and fluffy ugg slippers upon her feet. How she looked and felt so fresh after the amount of wine they’d all consumed the night before, was totally beyond her.

‘You’re up early.’ Waverly said, sympathetically. She’d probably already spotted the bags beneath Nicole’s eyes, and she was right, Nicole had been up early. Not through choice, but through necessity. So now here she stood, showered and dressed in the Homestead kitchen on her day off, before the clock had even struck 8am. She felt like a zombie and she probably looked a lot like one too.

Small hands snaked around Nicole’s waist and Waverly’s lips met hers. They were soft and gentle, and felt like home. Home. Home had never been with her parents. Home was just something other families had. If Nicole had wanted a home, she was always going to have to go out, find it herself, and grab it with both hands. So that’s what she’d done. It’s why she’d married Shae, why she’d signed up to the police academy and it was why she’d been drawn to the opening at the Purgatory Sheriff’s Department.

She was looking for something, and in many ways, she’d found exactly what she had been looking for in Purgatory. She loved her job, her flat, her Nedley. She knew that Purgatory was where she belonged; her and the Ghost River Triangle seemed destined for each other in that way. But her home, her real home, was with Waverly. Wherever Waverly Earp was, home would be, and where Waverly wasn’t, well, it wasn’t even worth making a pit stop.

So, when this was all over, would Nicole be able to give it back? Give back her 24/7, 365 day a year, uninterrupted all-access pass to Waverly Earp? To return to her flat with Calamity, and go back to a normal? Nicole knew the answer to that question.

‘I – er…’ Nicole spoke, or at least tried to. Her words were mumbled across her girlfriend’s lips. Waverly grazed Nicole’s lower lip teasingly with her tongue and felt the sheriff’s fingernails instinctually dig delightfully into the flesh at her hips. With an innocent smile and a near imperceptible wink, she pulled away from Nicole, grabbed a recently washed up mug, and proceeded to pour herself a coffee.

‘I thought you weren’t working today,’ Waverly said, putting her coffee to her lips with a guilty smile.

‘Oh I’m not. I just er,’ Nicole scratched her head, trying to clear her lust filled brain of Waverly’s kisses, ‘I couldn’t sleep. Wine makes me restless.’

Waverly pouted sweetly into her coffee. ‘Am I keeping you up?’

‘No, not at all.’ And it was true. Waverly wasn’t the one keeping Nicole up. Nicole was the one keeping Nicole up.

‘Because I know this is a bit of an adjustment, this is a small place...’ Waverly’s eyes didn’t meet Nicole’s as she continued.

‘You’re not keeping me up Waves,’ Nicole plucked the coffee out of Waverly’s hands, placed it down on the table, gathered her girlfriend in her arms and held her tight.

‘And it’ll take some time to get used to being together _every_ night…’ Nicole searched for her Waverly’s eyes as the smaller woman continued.

The red-head smiled what she hoped was her most reassuring, I-love-you-more-than-anything-in-the-world, nothing-could-possibly-be-wrong smile. ‘Waverly, sweetie, you’re not keeping me up. Okay?’

This wasn’t the first time they’d had this conversation; Waverly hadn’t used the same words, but they had all been the same doubts. The homestead wasn’t what you would call roomy, that was for sure, and it certainly didn’t have all the home comforts Nicole’s place would have afforded them. But it gave them wide open spaces, the luxury of almost complete isolation, and most of all for Waverly, it gave them Wynonna.

Nicole would never insist Waverly move into her apartment if it meant leaving Wynonna alone at the Homestead, especially at a time such as this. Of course, Wynonna could sometimes be considered a bit of a lone wolf, and it wasn’t as if she was a stranger to being alone, from what Nicole understood, but that wasn’t to say loneliness was something the Earp Heir invited upon herself. And loneliness was certainly not something Nicole was going to force upon her.

Had the thought crossed her mind to ask Waverly to move in with her when the mandatory lockdown was announced? Of course, it had. But the thought had left her mind as quickly as it had entered. Maybe the place wasn’t the biggest, or the warmest, or the most well-presented, Waverly’s words, not Nicole’s, but the Earp sisters had made the Homestead their home; with a lot of work and a truckload of love. And Nicole knew that to Waverly, the Earp Homestead was more than a home, it was a symbol for her and her sister’s re-kindled bond. And there was no way Nicole couldn’t feel like home in a place that important to the woman she loved.

When it came to Waverly Earp, funnily enough, Nicole had always remembered something Shea had said to her, around the time they’d first met in Arizona. _Whatever you do, don’t look down. Just jump._ So, Nicole had jumped, without a second thought.

But, no matter how much Nicole had flooded her girlfriend with reassuring words, hugs, kisses and head bumps, Waverly was still unsure that the Homestead was really and truly good enough for Nicole. Would Nicole be satisfied long term without striking out on their own as a couple? Nicole didn’t know what the future would hold or how they would feel after months in lock down together, but what she did know was that Waverly was the only home comfort Nicole needed, and Nicole was plenty comfy.

Nicole pressed a gentle kiss upon Waverly’s lips, once more. Slowly but surely, she felt Waverly begin to relax in her arms. Her girlfriend gave the smallest of doubting nods and a mumbled ‘Okay’, which made Nicole’s heart break a little. Waverly Earp should never be made to doubt the way Nicole Haught felt about the aforementioned Waverly Earp.

She grabbed her girlfriend’s hips again and brought them to hers, stooping so Waverly had to meet her eyes, and gazed upon her girlfriend’s delicate features. Her breath caught in her chest, as it always did. _Wow, she’s beautiful, how did this even happen? How did this angel fall into my lap and actually choose to stay there?_ Heat began to rise in her cheeks, as she became distinctly aware of how much of an addict she was to the Waverly Earp Effect. There wasn’t a day that went by that Nicole Haught didn’t thank whatever supernatural forces where out there that had brought them together.

Nicole couldn’t help but smile stupidly at the thought of it. Her fingers found a life of their own as they began to deftly draw upon the silk belt of Waverly’s robe. ‘And when you do keep me up? Baby,’ she shook her head as her voice became smoother and lower, ‘I’m not complaining.’ The loose knot of the silk belt began to unravel as the smooth material offered the sheriff no resistance.

Waverly’s cheeks flushed and her breath hitched. It was enough to send a girl crazy. ‘Smooth talker,’ the younger Earp admonished, teasingly.

‘You betcha’. The red head grinned into another greedy kiss, eliciting an inaudible gasp from the shorter woman, which quickly turned into a moan as Nicole delicately but wittingly bit down on her girlfriend’s lower lip.

But to Nicole’s surprise, Waverly placed her hands softly on both her girlfriend’s shoulders and gave a very polite but insistent push. Waverly wanted to stop, and of course Nicole instantly obliged, but not without concern, and went searching for her eyes once more. ‘Everything okay?’

It was only after a beat that Nicole realised her girlfriend wasn’t in fact worried, hurt or angry, she was …blushing? ‘Yeah,’ Waverly shifted, awkwardly ‘I just…’ she looked away for a moment and then flicked her eyes back to her girlfriend’s. ‘I’ve not brushed my teeth yet.’

Nicole couldn’t help but smile widely. Of course, she hadn’t brushed her teeth, and of course Waverly of all people would find that weird. ‘Well, that’s good because I’ve made you a pretty sweet breakfast, you’re going to want to be brushing your teeth all day’.

‘What!?’ Eyes went wide as Waverly had shifted gear from shy awkward Waverly to excited and insatiable Waverly faster than Nicole could scream _Taco Tuesdays_ whilst fleeing a flock of gun-toting, tanked up, trailer park revenants.

Nicole nodded in the direction of the table with a smile ‘There are benefits to me getting up early’.

Waverly’s eyes lit up as she took in the spread upon the table. ‘Pancakes?’

‘Uh huh’. Nicole was beginning to feel pretty pleased with herself.

‘That I can eat?’ Waverly’s hopeful eyes turned back to her girlfriend’s, hoping beyond all hope that the answer to that question was a resounding yes.

‘Uh huh.’ Nicole was pretty happy with herself right now. Smug may have been the word for it.

‘This is amazeballs!’ Waverly squealed. Being torn between thanking her girlfriend and consuming as much breakfast as a small a person could possibly fit in their small person stomach, Waverly dashed to Nicole, gave her an enthusiastic peck on the cheek, offered her a quick ‘Thank you!’, and then rushed to the table.

Nicole smiled a satisfied smile to herself as Waverly helped herself to a stack of vegan pancakes. She’d been right, there were benefits to getting up early. Watching her happy girlfriend stack and then demolish an inhuman number of pancakes was one of them. ‘These are fantastic,’ Waverly managed, through a mouthful of sucrose and carbohydrates.

The sheriff leaned back to admire her handy work against the already clean and tidy counter; if breakfast had been made on that counter-top, all evidence had been meticulously and forensically removed. ‘I’m glad you like them.’

‘Like them? They taste amazing.’

Nicole quirked an eyebrow as she took in the sight of her miniature girlfriend eating twice her bodyweight in vegan pancakes. ‘You talking about the pancakes now, or me?’

‘Well, you know I have a sweet tooth.’ Waverly grinned mischievously and shot Nicole a wink that sent a jolt straight through her. That was her mind made up. After this, she was throwing Waverly Earp over her shoulder, carrying her to the washroom and supervising the hell out of mission toothbrush. Then what happened next would be between her and Miss Waverly Earp, but not that silk robe, that silk robe would have nothing to do with proceedings.

‘Barf!’ Nicole was pulled from her reverie by the unceremonious arrival of the not so desired, Miss Wynonna Earp. Nicole found herself groaning with displeasure at the interruption. Her mind had only just started to run away with itself, and what was shaping up to be a monumental win of a morning had almost instantaneously devolved into a regular morning with vegan pancakes that tasted okay for vegan food, Nicole guessed. Wynonna’s demands were almost instantaneous. ‘Where’s the food Lieutenant?’

Nicole hardly had time to blink. ‘Pardon?’

‘If you’re living in my house, there has to be some kind of benefit to me. A value exchange of sorts.’ Wynonna cast her eyes hungrily over the kitchen table. Berries, syrup, powdered sugar, fruit tea. Her eyes narrowed as she fixed Nicole with an interrogative gaze. ‘So, I’ll ask again. Where’s the bacon Captain Haught?’

‘Steady on there, Sheila,’ The sheriff held her hands reluctantly in an attempt to appease her friend. Nicole hadn’t been so foolish as to not anticipate this very situation, even if it was one she’d hoped would never rear its ugly head. There were tales told of the Wynonna that emerges before the cockerel crows. That was a Wynonna that Nicole had prepared for, and Nicole knew exactly what that Wynonna needed. ‘There’s some on the stove. Extra crisp’.

‘You,’ Wynonna swung a finger in the direction of Nicole,’ You are a glorious human being; do you know that?’ she said with a smirk.

‘So glorious,’ whispered Waverly, staring longingly at the sliver of pancake affixed to the end of her fork, before popping it into her mouth with relish.

Nicole could only smile and shake her head at the absurdity of it all, as she grabbed Wynonna a plate and a fork from the drying rack. ‘You weren’t saying that last night, when I beat you at Clue. Proof rule breaking doesn’t pay.’

A non-plussed Wynonna scoffed. ‘I think you had an advantage being a real-life Sheriff.’

‘Says the special agent’.

‘Sweetheart,’ Waverly chirped, ‘could you pass the syrup?’

‘Of course, sugar.’

Wynonna could not repress the overwhelming urge to eyeroll. ‘Who are you, Rogue? Sucked the life out of Carol Danvers recently?’ Nicole and Waverly blinked up at her, oblivious to Wynonna’s reference and her reason for it. ‘You know what, I feel like I’m already here with this cuteness thing,’ she threw a hand to her temple, ‘Yeah, I’m at maximum capacity.’

Nicole frowned and glanced to Waverly for help. Sadly, for the sheriff, her girlfriend could only offer her the _I got nothing_ face, so she had to turn back to face Wynonna unarmed and without backup. ‘It’s been five days.’ It was all she could muster, but it was the truth. It really had only been five days.

‘Five days of hell, Nicole.’

‘That sounds like an exaggeration,’ the red-head tried and failed to intercept the metaphorical freight train with her metaphorical AMC Pacer.

‘Five days of saccharine, sprinkled covered, marshmallowed hell.’ Wynonna gave the word hell a particular relish.

‘Just because you lost. I make you bacon, and pasta. Not to mention this whole thing was your idea!’

‘I have no idea what you’re talking about. And if I did, I’ll have you know I’d be seriously considering rescinding my invitation.’ Wynonna’s eyes narrowed. ‘Nothing personal, of course.’

‘Of course,’ Nicole retorted, jaw clenched, not missing a beat.

‘Wynonna, you don’t mean that.’ Waverly scolded from behind a second helping of pancakes. She turned to Nicole with a sympathetic smile. ‘She doesn’t mean that.’

‘I know, baby,’ Nicole responded with a smile that quite didn’t reach her eyes and eyes that didn’t quite leave Wynonna’s.

There it was again, the edge to Wynonna. Once their competitiveness had gotten the better of them the previous night, the edge had gone. It had completely fallen away. All Nicole had cared about was beating Wynonna by sticking to the rules, and then rubbing her silly face in it. All Wynonna had cared about was defeating Nicole through any means necessary, and then rubbing her silly face in it. Perhaps it would have taught them both a lesson if Waverly had emerged victorious, but Nicole had flexed her keen detective skills, or perhaps more realistically, her ability to apply the process of elimination skills, and had correctly identified the killer.

And no, the killer had not been in the barn. But it had been Colonel Mustard.

‘Ugh,’ Wynonna threw her hands in the air with frustration and grabbed her coat off of the back of one of the kitchen chairs. ‘I’ve got to get out of this place.’

‘Wynonna, where are you going?’ Nicole asked, half out of a professional responsibility to enforce the lockdown, and half out of frustration. If this was going to work for the foreseeable future, they needed to be able to co-exist, preferably in the same place, for an extended period of time, without having some form of argument.

‘Nowhere… that’s any concern of yours, Sheriff’. All Nicole needed to do was raise a sceptical eyebrow to put Wynonna into defensive mode. ‘Hey! It’s your day off. You can’t judge me.’ And there it was.

‘Well, it’s still my duty as an officer of the law t-‘

‘Then I relieve of your duty!’ Wynona eyed the table again, casting her eyes across it, like a desperate, cornered animal. She suddenly snatched at some pancakes, tearing at them and throwing them onto a plate that she’d grabbed with the other hand. ‘And I relieve you of your culinary delights.’

‘I mean, you’re free to take as ma-‘

‘Ha!’ Wynonna exclaimed whilst shovelling the first of what Nicole could only assumed was many pancakes into her mouth.

The sheriff simply shrugged, with apathetic acceptance. She had made the pancakes for everyone and she’d almost certainly overestimated the amount she’d need to satisfy herself and the Earp sisters, despite their well-known appetites. Better to have too much than too little, right?

Wynonna huffed a little through her nose, despondently, whilst still enthusiastically chewing. The red head was suddenly filled with a wonderful sense of satisfaction when she saw the Earp heir making little fist of frustration by her sides. Like when your team’s star Quarterback ditches you for a higher profile team and their career entirely tanks. Or when punch your girlfriend’s ex-boyfriend in the face and get to arrest him in front of her and the guy who’s practically your dad. Yeah, Wynonna liked the pancakes, a lot.

With one pained swallow, the older Earp conceded, ‘These are irritatingly delightful.’

Nicole supressed the urge to grin like an idiot and gave Wynonna brisk but appreciative nod. ‘Thank you, I followed a recipe.’

‘Of course, you did. Is there anything you’re not good at?’ Wynonna asked, looking visibly begrudged to be paying Nicole a compliment and Nicole felt a little begrudged to receive it. She’d never been the kind of person to take a compliment well, especially a compliment that, to her, didn’t match up with her interpretation of reality.

‘There are a lot of things I’m not good at’. Nicole shifted a little and scratched awkwardly at her head. ‘If you want to talk about someone who’s good at everything they put their mind to…’

Hands snaked their way around her waist once more and Waverly kissed her cheek gently, ‘You’re pretty bad at saying no to Earps. Is this you putting your foot down sweetie?

‘Waverly, I will not be distracted by your kisses, or _your_ compliments’. Nicole pointed an accusatory finger towards Wynonna who had seen her opportunity and crossed the kitchen to the stove, from where she’d gathered her bacon and was about to make a quick escape out of the Homestead’s back door.

Wynonna tried her best to paint her face with a look of what she thought could potentially be interpreted as innocence. ‘I’m going for a walk, okay? I need some air,’ she chucked her coat on and threw her hood up, ‘And some goddam antihistamine. I swear to god that cat has taken up daytime residence on my pillow. She’s under your wicked instruction, isn’t she?’

It was Nicole’s turn to feign innocence. No Calamity Jane was not under her wicked instruction to persecute Wynonna, but she’d certainly not intervened when she’d seen her slink into her bedroom. With a little shrug she offered, ‘She likes you.’

‘No cat has ever liked me.’

Sensing that their duelling of words could continue into the not too distant future, Waverly withdrew her hands from around her girlfriend’s waist, gave Nicole a small smile that said _you have my support but you need to pick your battles because this is exhausting_ , and shuffled across this kitchen in her uggs to give her sister a quick kiss on the cheek. ‘Just, stay safe okay?’ Waverly asked, earnestly.

Wynonna visibly softened with her sister’s words. She gave a light-hearted eye roll and sighed. ‘Of course, I will. Okay baby girl? I will be sensible. If I run into any demons, I’ll be sure to avoid touching them with my face and I’ll be straight back to the Homestead before you can sing happy birthday twice.’

Nicole frowned. Jesting about such serious matters made her uncomfortable, to say the least. ‘Those aren’t the rules.’

‘Whatever,’ Wynonna retorted, batting away Nicole’s concerns as she yanked the back door open. ‘Besides,’ she turned back and fixed Nicole with a signature raised eyebrow and a palpitation inducing look. The sheriff knew she was about to eat it. ‘I’m not the only absconder here.’ There it was, and with that she was gone.

She knew. Wynonna knew. Or knew _something_. But how? She’d been discrete, she’d had a plan, she’d executed that plan. A plan that hadn’t taken into account another absconder, another rule breaker, a witness. That’s what Nicole Haught was, a rule breaker. She might as well turn in her badge and her gun. What would Nedley say? What would Waverly say?

But she could handle that right? She’d only broken a few rules and they were just rules, it wasn’t like Wynonna knew about the skype calls, right? _Right_? Fucking Wynonna, why couldn’t she just do her a solid for once and keep her mouth shut. _Pot, kettle? Damn it._

‘The pancakes are vegan!’ Nicole squawked at Wynonna through the closing door, in a desperate attempt to make one final swipe at her, in the vague hope that it would make her feel ever so slightly better than she was now feeling. It didn’t help.

She closed her eyes and exhaled in resignation. If she opened them again, they would have to meet Waverly’s, and that wasn’t something she thought she was ready for in that moment.

She was royally screwed. If Wynonna knew, then the whole thing would fall apart, and if the whole thing fell apart…Waverly deserved better.

With show of courage that would have put Xavier Dolls to shame, Nicole opened her eyes and met her girlfriend’s. Her stomach flip flopped. ‘Rule breaker Haught, huh?’ Waverly was closing the distance between them, slowly.

‘Er…’. Her hands had gone to the silk belt of her robe and began to pull at the knot that was still somehow cruelling clinging to existence. Nicole’s brain couldn’t compute.

‘I like that’.

‘Y…you do?’ Nicole stammered. This was not the reaction she had been expecting

‘Yeah, breaking social distancing protocols gets me really hot’. The knot fell apart.

‘Uh huh.’ Her words failed her as a heat began to rise in her cheeks, and in the pit of her stomach.

Waverly grinned and laughed a little, as she slowly grazed her fingers over the soft cotton that covered Nicole’s collarbones. ‘I’m joking,’ she explained, in a dorky voice that implied she shouldn’t need to punctuate her statement with a _duh_.

‘Hilarious,’ The red head deadpanned, with a soft smile. Her eyes softened, and the worry that was there just a moment ago was quickly replaced by what could only be described as internet breaking, interdimensional defying, universe shattering love.

‘I thought so.’ Waverly captured her lips for a moment, allowing the kiss to linger as her hands navigated their way over Nicole’s shoulders. They ran, tactilely, across her upper arms as she played momentarily with the hem of her girlfriend’s over-sized t-shirt. ‘How about we break some more rules, you and me.’ Waverly scratched her nails lightly down the sensitive skin of Nicole’s forearms and took hold of her wrist, slowing drawing the sheriff’s hands inside her robe that was now hanging open. ‘Right now.’

Her breath was hot against Nicole’s lips, but her skin was on fire against her fingertips. ‘I could be persuaded.’ She quirked an eyebrow. ‘What kind of rules were you thinking?’

Now that Nicole’s hands were firmly where she wanted them, Waverly let her hands wander. ‘What if I didn’t brush my teeth?’

The red head tightened her grip on her girlfriend’s hips and pulled them close to meet her own. The feeling of Waverly’s body against her own was simply intoxicating. All thoughts of absconsions left her mind as she craned her neck to taste the soft, sensitive skin of Waverly’s neck. ‘Gosh,’ she spoke through kisses, ‘That would be unforgiveable.’

‘And what if, we had second breakfast?’

‘Before 11?’ She whispered breathlessly into Waverly’s ear before seeking out her girlfriend’s lips.

‘I’m still pretty ravenous’. Nicole broke her grip on her girlfriend’s hips. One hand travelled lower, to the delicate skin behind Waverly’s left knee. Her fingers lingered there for a moment before gripping and hooking her knee up to rest against her hip. The other hand curled around her back, cradling and drawing her close. With one fluid movement Nicole scooped up her girlfriend and placed her gently upon the kitchen table.

‘Oh, I don’t know if I can budge on that rule, baby.’ She pouted and shook her head, placing herself firmly between Waverly’s legs. The smaller woman leant back on her elbows, robe falling completely open, and tucked her heels into the back of Nicole’s thighs, pulling her unbearably close. ‘You know it’s important to eat small amounts regularly throughout the day, in order to keep energy levels from fluctuating and having a negative impact on cognitive and physiological performance.’

Waverly threw her head back and laughed, unbridled and unabashedly amongst the blueberries, maple syrup and the dirty dishes, and Nicole thought it was the most beautiful thing she’d ever seen. ‘I love it when you talk dirty,’ She quipped, with a playful smile, as she reached for a blueberry, capturing one between her fingers and covering it in a dusting of powdered sugar. Sitting back, she reached for Nicole, her right hand coming to rest, half tangled in the hair, just above the nape of her neck. Her other hand brought the blueberry to Nicole’s mouth and caressed her lips with it, as she raised a solitary, questioning eyebrow. ‘For your energy levels?’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry I never finished the game of Clue(do), as some of you might have been expecting but hopefully a bit more time dedicated to Wayhaught makes up for it 
> 
> Any comments are always welcome. Thank you!


	3. I fall to pieces

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nicole takes her daily exercise, Waverly becomes even more of an advocate of athleisure, and Wynonna levels her sneak to 100.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to those who have commented and let kudos. This chapter got a little more angsty than I had originally anticipated, so here's a nice does of angst. Still got a bit of fluff and Wynhaught in there though, just for good measure. Hope you enjoy!

With one last check to make sure her headphones were connected to her iPod; Nicole stuck an earbud in her left ear and pattered down the stairs. ‘Hey Waves!’ she called through to the living room, ‘I’m heading out, okay? I’ll be back in an hour or so.’

‘Sure thing hun,’ her girlfriend’s voice drifted airily through the homestead. It had only just passed 7am and Waverly had chosen to curl up on the sofa rather than stay curled up in bed when Nicole had awoken. The Sheriff wondered if there had been more behind that choice than Waverly had let on. 

After some long distance shuffling a mess of bed head appeared from through the doorway, accompanied by a fluffy purple robe and a steaming hot cup of coffee. ‘Where are y-…’ Waverly’s eyes grew wide at the sight that lay before her and she was overcome with an uncontrollable urge to laugh. ‘I’m sorry,’ Waverly apologised, through bouts of poorly supressed laughter. Waverly was not sorry. ‘What are you wearing?’

Nicole could only frown, this was not the reception she’d expected. Her outfit had been meticulously colour co-ordinated, it was water resistant and it was wicking. All very practical! What more could a girl want? ‘Work out stuff,’ she explained, with a shrug.

Wavery raised a teasing eyebrow. ‘You work out?’

The Sheriff pulled awkwardly at the running jacket that was already riding up, despite it being given little to no reason to do so. ‘I told you, I run now. I’m a cop, we run and chase people that run away from us.’

If it were possible, Waverly’s eyebrow rose even higher, and got lost somewhere near her hairline. Not only was the idea of Nicole going on a run highly amusing to her girlfriend, it now seemed as if it was considered absolutely absurd, which of course it was. 

‘Yeah, I love running. _Love_ it.’ Nicole _hated_ running.

‘Is this,’ Waverly looked her girlfriend up and down and gestured to her outfit, ‘Why you’ve been sneaking around?’ Nicole had been right, there was a reason why Waverly had chosen not to stay in bed.

 _No, but let’s go with that._ ‘Does it look _that_ bad?’

‘No, no, no,’ Waverly quickly shuffled over and wrapped her arms around her girlfriend, in an attempt to very quickly right her little wrong. Nicole felt bad, this was bad, she shouldn’t be letting Waverly think she’d hurt her, but she needed to. 

‘That’s not what I meant,’ her girlfriend continued to try and dig herself out of the tiny hole she’d made. It was now Nicole’s turn to raise an eyebrow, but one that was accompanied by a very small, reassuring smile, and Waverly relented. ‘Okay, it is what I meant. It’s just…’ Waverly was desperately searching for some way to divert the conversation away from her slip up. ‘Do you not get cold?’ she asked, whilst desperately rubbing Nicole’s polyester clad upper arms. 

‘Careful, static.’ Waverly halted her arm rubbage and rolled her eyes, giving Nicole a playful punch in the arm. The Sheriff grinned. ‘Quite the opposite, actually. I get way too hot. That’s why I like to get it done before you wake up. Get showered and freshened up you know? Don’t want to be all sweaty.’ She knew she was baiting Waverly now, but she needed to get her girlfriend off of the topic of why she was running, and closer to the topic of the benefits she’d reap from said activity.

Waverly’s hands abandoned Nicole’s upper arms and slipped around her waist, pulling herself flush against the taller woman’s body. ‘Don’t we?’ Oh, how the baiting had worked. Nicole gave herself an internal pat on the back. ‘How about I come with you this time. We can get all sweaty together’. Oh, how the baiting had gone too far. Nicole cringed inwardly.

 _Play it cool Nicole, you can do this. It doesn’t have to be a lie, remember? Just out flirt the flirt, use your patented Nicole Haught Charm. Use the eyes!_ ‘Nah, it’s cool. I can get plenty sweaty for both of us, baby.’ 

Waverly’s thumb played gently across Nicole’s lower lip. With a little pressure she’d tilted the red-head’s mouth towards hers, and the Sheriff could feel Waverly’s hot breath against her skin. _She’s brushed her teeth_. That meant there had definitely been a reason Waverly had gotten up so early, she’d even prepared for a potential intimate encounter. ‘I’m sure you can darlin,’ Waverly whispered, ‘but it’s not something you should have to do all on your lonesome.’

A little voice at the back of Nicole’s mind told her that she should start to panic. Nicole didn’t need telling twice. ‘I like being alone!’ _Shit_. The Jekyll to the _Nicole Haught Charm’s_ Hyde was the _Nicole Haught Internal Freak-Out_. A rare but chaotic manifestation that often lead to a significant delay in the transmission of signals sent from the subject’s brain to the subject’s mouth.

‘Oh-Kay,’ Waverly’s hands dropped to Nicole’s shoulders and she drew back with a questioning gaze. She clearly looked disappointed.

‘No, I mean like, headspace. Right?’ Nicole was grasping and she knew it. ‘We’re all cramped in here together and you probably need a bit of space from me,’ she paused for a moment, desperately trying to get a read from Waverly. Was this direction making things better or worse? ‘God knows Wynonna has made it indelibly clear that she could use some space from me.’

At mention of Wynonna, Waverly’s face visibly softened. ‘ _Us_. It was an us thing, babe.’ She smiled sympathetically but her eyes were still troubled, and her brow furrowed.

‘It would just be good to clear my head. Good for both of us.’

The youngest Earp nodded, somewhat reluctantly, and Nicole felt Waverly ease herself out of her arms. ‘Sure. If that’s what you need.’ Her eyes were a little unsure, but her voice was earnest. She didn’t like it, but if space is what Nicole needed, space was what Waverly was going to afford her.

 _Nicole, you’re an awful person. How can you do this? How can you make her look like that, feel like that_? Perhaps Nicole had taken it too far, but how would she know how far too far was? Was it this, was it an argument? And when would she know when enough was enough and it was time to give up the game? 

_You’ll know, Nicole, just remember why you’re doing this._ ‘It is what I need,’ she spoke, after a beat. ‘And thank you.’ The red-head took Waverly’s hands in hers and caressed her knuckles gently with her thumb, before placing a delicate kiss upon the smaller woman’s forehead. ‘Just for an hour,’ she murmured against the skin there, before moving her lips to whisper gently into Waverly’s ear. ‘And then I’ll be back, plenty sweaty.’ She smiled with satisfaction as she saw goose bumps spread across the soft skin of Waverly’s neck at the touch of her breath. _Nicole Haught charm_ , reinitiated.

‘In need of a good scrub?’ Her girlfriend inquired. Nicole could hear the mischief in her girlfriend’s voice, despite not being able to see the twinkle that was undoubtedly playing in her eyes.

‘Oh, most definitely’. Nicole placed a gentle and lingering kiss on the soft skin, just below Waverly’s ear.

‘Nicole?’

‘Yes, baby?’ The Sheriff mumbled through a shower of kisses.

‘These little shorts?’ Waverly thumbed the waist band and tugged Nicole’s hips a little closer to hers.

‘Uh huh.’

‘These can stay.’ _Nicole Haught Charm_ wins!

* * *

The wind wound its way across the open plains, through the spring wildflowers and in-between the pines, rattling the pine wood boards on the abandoned lodge. Nicole stiffened as she felt the wind go through her. The supposed windproof running jacket she’d donned earlier that morning was proving to be as windproof as the decrepit four walls that surrounded her, and she shivered in the stillness.

‘How was that, better?’ she asked, in hushed tones. Even though Nicole knew she was the only soul for at least one point two kilometres, thanks to her Garmin, she couldn’t escape the urge to whisper into the dimly lit darkness. 

Shae offered her a small, encouraging smile, that reached her eyes. ‘Much, your fingering was good. You’ve really improved since last week.’

Nicole smiled awkwardly at the compliment. ‘Thanks’.

‘And you’re starting to notice,’ Shae continued, ‘When you get more flexibility in the wrist and put that pressure through your forefinger, you strike all the right notes,’ and it was true. Nicole had noticed how much better the bar chords were sounding now she was managing to get her wrist all the way round. It was still a little awkward, but Shae had assured her it was something that came with time.

‘Well,’ Nicole smiled and nodded towards her phone that she’d propped up on a rotting, disused dresser, ‘I have a good teacher.’

Shae smiled back at her, but her eyes were tired, sad almost. Nicole shouldn’t really have been all that surprised. ‘Thank you. And thank you for the distraction, it’s nice to be able to come home from a nightshift and not think about work for an hour’.

Nicole sighed. She couldn’t imagine how difficult Shae’s life must have become over the last several weeks, and she suddenly felt bad for thinking that being Sheriff through the pandemic was tough. ‘You doing okay?

Her ex-wife nodded, and offered up a brave yet wholly unconvincing smile, and so Nicole decided not to push too hard. ‘As well as can be expected.’ _That bad, huh?_

‘You still got all the PPE you need?’

‘Barely,’ she answered with a sigh and the shake of the head. It was a sign of resignation, and Nicole wondered how things had gotten so bad, so quickly. ‘One of our matrons was sent home with a fever yesterday so…’

‘I’m sorry to hear that, I hope she’s doing okay.’ It was all the Nicole could offer. What more could she do? Speculate over whether any other staff members had contracted the virus? Speculate whether Shae had? No, that wasn’t productive.

They’d been meeting regularly like this, for the best part of two weeks. As Nicole’s guitar skills had slowly been improving, the rest of the Country’s Covid-19 outlook had been quickly worsening. On every Skype call Shae had looked more and more tired, so much so that earlier that week Nicole had suggested they put a stop to the lessons, but Shae had insisted they continue. They were a nice distraction, she’d said, every time they spoke. It had been no different that day. Shae had also said that she genuinely wanted to help her, for Waverly. 

‘Thank you. I hope she improves too. How are things in Purgatory?’

Nicole always hated it when Shae asked her this question, because their experiences in their respective jobs were just so vastly different, but both were considered to be on the front line. The Sheriff felt awful, she felt powerless. Yes, Nicole and Shae were divorced, and yes, the only woman she loved now, and forever was Waverly Earp, that was beyond all doubt and both women knew it, but that didn’t mean that Nicole had stopped caring for Shae. Their experiences together formed in some part who she was today, and she’d always value that. 

‘Nothing too crazy,’ Nicole explained. ‘You’re out there saving lives and I’m here breaking up disputes between some “Karen” and the guy who runs the grocery store, because asking people to wear masks is apparently “impinging on their human rights”.’ 

Shae laughed a little at the ridiculousness of it all and smiled. ‘It’s noble work.’

‘Somebody’s gotta do it,’ Nicole grinned, feeling a little idiotic. ‘But I mean it,’ she said, earnestly. ‘Thank you, for _all_ of this.’

‘It’s no problem. Consider this the passing of the torch.’ _Wow, she’s a big person,_ Nicole thought, _bigger than me._ ‘You do have a ring, right?’

Nicole faux gasped at the suggestion. To even imply that Nicole Haught would not have thought of a detail like that was heresy. Of course, she had a ring. She had _the_ ring. No, not _that_ ring. ‘Who do you think I am? You think I wouldn’t be prepared for something as important as this?’

‘What, like how you prepared for our engagement?’

‘Hey, I did my best with the time that was given to me. Plus, I’d just spent most of my earthly savings on a rock-climbing trip to the most expensive place to rock climb in the world, so you know, I had to be pretty frugal.’ 

‘When are you not pretty frugal?’

A small, self-deprecating laugh escaped Nicole as she remembered the day she’d proposed to Shae. God, she’d been such an idiot. ‘I’ll take that one, but I can assure you that this time, I did not pick out a ring from Claire’s, okay?’

‘That _is_ a relief. No girl deserves that’. Shae was half smiling and half scowling at the red-head, all in jest, but Nicole couldn’t help but feeling a little tug of guilt. She was thankful her and Shae were no longer together, she was thankful Shae had been so agreeable when granting her the divorce that she’d asked for, but that didn’t mean she didn’t have regrets. Not giving her that moment, that moment that she knew Shae had dreamed about, by not doing it justice. Yeah. Nicole regretted that.

‘Which is why I am so thankful that you’re helping me. You didn’t have to do this, so thank you’.

‘Stop saying thank you, okay? Just keep working on that finger pressure and the bar chords are going to really ring in no time. When do you want to catch up again? A couple of days?’

Nicole gently placed the guitar against the dresser and grabbed her phone. ‘One sec,’ she told Shae as she opened her calendar and quickly started to thumb through it. ‘I’m working the next three so… are you working Sunday?’ 

‘No,’ Shae shook her head, ‘I can do Sunday. Same time?’

‘Let’s make it afternoon, give you an actual lie in’.

‘What’s one of those?’

Nicole laughed, ‘You’re asking the wrong person’.

Shae nodded; she knew all too well. ‘Sunday afternoon it is.’

‘Cool, I’ll try and smuggle a beer out’.

Shae grinned, ‘Yes, you should definitely do that.’

‘I shan’t disappoint. We’ll speak then okay?’

‘Speak then,’ Shae nodded in agreement.

‘Bye!’ Nicole waved enthusiastically. ‘Thank you!’

‘Stop saying thank you! Goodbye!’. The screen went black and the call was over. The abandoned lodge fell silent again. Nicole looked at her Garmin. She maybe had another five minutes before she absolutely had to head back. If she left then, it would take her just over ten minutes to reach the barn where she could stow the instrument, and then she’d be back past eight, and Waverly would be none the wiser.

Nicole scrolled through her phone and brought up the page that she’d been using on Ultimate Guitar. Once she’d found the correct piece of music, she placed her phone back down upon the dresser and picked up the guitar that she’d rested against it. It really was a beauty. A Guild concert guitar of dark mahogany, vintage sunburst and a rosewood fretboard. It was stunning and the sound was like nothing she’d ever heard from a guitar before, so deep and resonant. What was even better, was that it was Nedley who’d lent it to her. 

‘Ha!’ A voice burst from the doorway. ‘Gotcha!’

Nicole startled, and the guitar tumbled from her hands clattering to the floor with a dissonant _klang_. Well, it had been a beautiful guitar.

The Sheriff turned from her fallen comrade to the person that was cutting a figure in the doorway of the lodge. Of course, Nicole hadn’t needed visual confirmation to know that the intruder was Wynonna Earp, she’d recognise that self-congratulatory tone anywhere. ‘Wynonna! You scared the hell out of me.’

The Earp Heir surveyed the dilapidated room that they were standing in. Her eyes lingered on Nicole’s phone that was still in its place on the dresser. A ring adorned finger tapped at her chin. ‘It all comes together now…’

Nicole couldn’t understand. She had so many questions. How was she there? Had she followed her all the way from the Homestead? Was she really that suspicious of Nicole? And had she _really_ gotten up before 7am just to tail her across Ghost River County? ‘Wynonna, how did you…?’

‘The early mornings,’ she continued, ‘the disappearances, the non-sweaty returns from exercise. I knew you couldn’t run a sub one hour ten kilometre’

Nicole’s face was stony. She should have seen this coming. Wynonna had been warning her that night the week prior, when they’d played Clue, and at breakfast the morning after. But she’d continued to come to the lodge. ‘You’re a real Nancy Drew,’ Nicole spat, it wasn’t a compliment.

‘Nancy’s got nothing on me, _bitch_ ,’ she said, with open arms. ‘Gonna tell me what’s going on?’

The Sheriff sighed with exasperation. Maybe she should come clean. If she was at least honest with Wynonna, maybe she could be convinced to at least try to keep Nicole’s secret. ‘Isn’t it obvious?’

‘Who were you talking to?’ Wynonna interjected.

‘Skype’. Nicole didn’t know how to play this, and she was at increasing risk of launching _Nicole Haught Internal Freak-Out_ exe.

Wynonna smiled; a smile that only exacerbated the situation. It was not a nice smile. ‘But who, huh? That was a lady. I heard a lady and you like ladies.’

‘I like _A_ lady, one lady.’ Nicole’s words hung in the air. Wynonna raised an expectant eyebrow. It was clear that the Sheriff wasn’t going wriggle out of this one. She could lie and say that she’d been speaking to her mom, and Wynonna would see right through it. It’s not like Nicole spoke to her mother often, and when she did, did she really need to travel off of the homestead to do it? 

Or she could tell the truth, and have Wynonna fly off the handle, but at least she’d have chosen to tell the truth, and Nicole Haught was nothing without the truth. Even misleading Waverly over what she’d been doing on her morning runs, so she could do something nice for her, had been eating away at her. If Wynonna flew off the handle, Nicole knew that she could nail her down again, she just couldn’t predict how much destruction the Earp Heir would cause before she could make that happen. 

Nicole took a deep breath, didn’t look down, and jumped. ‘That was Shae’.

‘Your stealth wife?!’ Wynonna’s voice rose, at least a couple of octaves, and a whole bunch of decibels. Yep, she was about to fly straight off there.

Nicole cringed. ‘Ex-wife.’ She wasn’t helping herself.

‘You think the word ex has ever held much credence with me Nicole?’

 _Was that a trick question?_ ‘Not particularly.’

Wynonna exhaled and balled her fists in anger. A silence fell between the two women. When Wynonna spoke again, her voice was lower, quieter, and far more threatening. ‘Nicole, I like you, a lot. I love you, even, so I’m going to give you a chance. That girl sat back there at the homestead, the one eagerly awaiting your return so she can pepper you with fucking rainbow kisses and unicorn hugs or whatever the fuck you guys do when I’m not around?! Well, she is the best god damn person I have ever known. 

There’s not a day that goes by that I don’t think about how little I deserve that girl in my life. How none of us do. And fuck me, she’s been hurt, she’s been rejected, and I’m responsible for some of that, I know. But you? I thought that you were _that_ person, you know? That person who was better, who wasn’t going to just paint over the cracks. I thought you were the fucking spackle, Nicole. The brand new goddam plaster job, with a damp proofing course to boot. So, you can imagine my disappointment.’ 

Silence hung between them once again as their eyes met. Despite the situation, that was probably the nicest thing Wynonna had ever said to Nicole. Wynonna’s expression shifted, from pure, unadulterated anger, to pity and sadness. The Earp Heir placed her hand on her hip and in doing so revealed Peacemaker sitting ominously in its holster. _Fuck_. Things had taken a turn. 

‘So, I swear to God Nicole, you better give me a good god damn reason right this second, for all of this, or I’m gonna put you in the ground where you stand.’

Nicole swallowed. She didn’t blame Wynonna for this reaction, Waverly tended to have this kind of effect on people. If there was going to be a debate as to who drew first, the answer was Nicole, many months prior. She’d shoot anyone for Waverly, as would Wynonna, and if Nicole was stood face to face with a friend who she suspected was going to cause catastrophic and irreversible damage to that beautiful little heart, she’d have pulled a gun on them too.

The red-head drew her gaze away from Peacemaker to meet Wynonna’s eyes. She was met with a look that she was unfamiliar with on Wynonna. It was hope, Wynonna wanted to hope, and Nicole was going to make sure she could. ‘I have one and I will,’ she said, with a reassuring nod.

‘Okay,’ Wynonna nodded, slowly but surely, ‘You gonna enlighten me and plead your innocence? Or am I going to have to go full Dredd mode on you?’

Nicole shifted awkwardly and played with the hem of her running jacket. ‘It’s kind of a secret but...’

‘No shit. As if you’re going to scream about _skexing_ your ex-wife from the rooftops.’ Wynonna put special emphasis on the word skexing, she’d learned it from her most recent lockdown binge, Housewives of Atlanta, and she was pretty happy with herself for weaving it into conversation. It was as if the stars had aligned!

‘God no! Wynonna, we’re not sexting-‘

‘Skexing.’

‘We’re not skexing.’ Nicole ran her hands through her hair, and scraped it back off of her face in frustration. _This shouldn’t be complicated_. ‘It’s a secret because it’s a _surprise_. I wanted it to be a surprise. Shae’s just teaching me.’

Wynonna audibly scoffed. ‘Teaching you what? The fucking Karma Sutra?’

‘Firstly, the Karma Sutra is for straight couples.’

‘Not always couples.’

‘Fine, men and women.’

‘Life finds a way, Nicole!’

‘And secondly, she’s teaching me guitar. _Guitar_ , Wynonna,’ Nicole made sure to place significant emphasis on the gorram guitar. ‘For Waverly. I wanted it to be a surprise.’

Wynonna stopped in her tracks. Nicole had managed a feat she’d have never dreamed possible until that very moment. She had rendered Wynonna Earp speechless. The Earp Heir blinked once and then twice. ‘Um, what?’

‘I’m learning guitar, more specifically a song for Waverly on guitar, and Shae is helping me.’ Nicole began to pace the length of the small lodge. ‘Waverly is so good at … _everything_. Singing, dancing, cheerleading, languages, ancient mythology, local history,’ she ran her hands through her hair once again. ‘I wanted to be good at something. Everybody seems to be using this lockdown to better themselves or learn a new skill, right? So, I thought that I could use the time to learn something that maybe we could do _together_ , you know? I would play, she could sing along if she wanted…’ 

Nicole stole a glance at Wynonna who was still starring at her as if she’d grown an extra head, decapitated it and fried it up with some home fries for breakfast. Nicole tore her eyes away and pinched the bridge of her nose in exasperation. ‘I don’t know, it sounded way better in my head,’ she muttered.

‘Fuck me,’ Wynonna finally broke her silence, and stared, dumfounded at Nicole. ‘You are the fucking spackle’.

Nicole met Wynonna’s eyes as she tried to swallow down the tears that had begun to accumulate in her chest and were resting heavily upon her heart. ‘I wanted to be good at… _something_ , that we could share and I didn’t want her to see it before it was good _enough_. I didn’t want her to see me be bad at it. What if I was bad at it? That would just be humiliating.’ Nicole groaned and flopped to the floor, sitting amongst the stray leaves and blossoms that had gathered there, brought by the spring winds. She held her head in her hands as she tried desperately to control her breathing. She hadn’t expected to feel this way, to feel vulnerable in this way, with Wynonna, but she’d been vocalising insecurities that she certainly hadn’t been able to share with Shae, and she’d never had the courage to broach them with Waverly.

Somehow, Nicole knew that Wynonna had been the right person to hear her words. They both adored Waverly, more than any other person in their lives. They both lived in her light, and in her shadow, willingly. And they both feared losing her, more than they feared their own death. A life without the light of Waverly Earp, wasn’t a life worth living.

Nicole heard the quiet crunching and breaking of leaves under heavy boots, and then felt a warm hand upon her back. It began to travel in circles, soothingly between her shoulder blades. Wynonna had settled beside her.

‘Careful, static,’ Nicole whispered, into her hands.

‘Do you have a brother by any chance?’ Wynonna asked, ‘That’s available?’ That drew a smile from Nicole. She dragged her hands down her face and glanced sideways at the Earp Heir with a raised eyebrow. ‘Your height would do,’ Wynonna stuck her bottom lip out as if deciding on what to say next. That was just for show. ‘Preferably one that doesn’t look a whole lot like you.’

‘Hey!’ Nicole playfully slapped at Wynonna’s knee and the Heir rolled her eyes.

‘Only because that would be weird.’

Nicole could only shrug. ‘Only child. Sorry.’ The Sheriff would admit that it had been far too easy to let Wynonna down.

‘Thought so, damn it. All the good ones are non-existent.’ They sat there for a moment, the two of them, basking in each other’s self-pity. Wynonna took what sounded like a pained breath. ‘Nicole, I might be about to say something that I’ll regret.’

‘Okay?’

The Heir sighed despondently. ‘You are pretty incredible, at a lot of things. Actually, it pains me to say it, but you’re pretty incredible at a lot things that I wish I was pretty incredible at. I am a fuck up, in so many ways. My life fucked with me, and I capitulated, I ran. Your life fucked with you and faced that shit head on. Look at you.’

‘Wynonna, you know that’s not true. I wish I was half th-‘

‘You’re loyal and principled, Nicole.’ Wynonna had swung her legs round to sit cross legged in front of her, so she couldn’t avoid her gaze, and reached out to do something she’d never done before. Wynonna took Nicole’s hand in hers and gave it and gentle, comforting squeeze. ‘You’re not afraid to put yourself out there to get what you want, even in the face of rejection. Not to mention you’re a badass mother fucking Sheriff. Do you really think Waverly is going to be anything bit completely bowled over when you turn up with a guitar?’

Nicole felt heat rise in her cheeks. She guessed not. 

‘She’ll melt, man! However shitty your fingering is. And do you really think that if Waverly did the least likely Waverly thing ever and laughed in your face, that you wouldn’t come back from it? You survived a massacre! That’s hardcore!’

Rather annoyingly, Nicole knew the Wynonna had a point. 

‘Look, you make my sister incredibly happy in a multiplicity of ways,’ Wynonna offered Nicole a cheeky wink and the heat in the Sheriff’s cheeks burst into a fully-fledged blush. ‘So, I’d say you’re pretty talented.’

The red head shifted uncomfortably, as the blush spread from her cheeks to her neck. ‘That’s nice of you say, but not exactly the kind of thing I want to be remembered for.’

Wynonna rolled her eyes. She was probably thinking about how much of a prude Nicole was. Nicole was _not_ a prude, Wynonna only needed to ask her sister to know different. ‘What I’m _trying_ to say is,’ she gripped Nicole’s hand once more and gave it a little shake, ‘Waverly loves you. Like, to a sickening degree. You don’t need to change or enhance yourself to please her or make her happy. She is happy because she loves everything about you. Even that cat. She loves that cat and that cat is un-loveable, so you have cast some spell there, sister.’

A goofy smile and dimples joined the blushing cheeks. ‘Thanks Wynonna, and you’ll warm to her eventually. You have a lot in common you know?’

‘You are _welcome,_ and don’t make me take back all the nice things I said.’ Wynonna rose to her feet and began to dust her pants off. She offered Nicole a hand, and a quirked an eyebrow. ‘So, are you gonna play me a song or…?

Nicole scoffed in disgust as she took Wynonna’s hand and hauled herself up. ‘Absolutely not.’ _Shutdown_.

‘Because from what I heard outside, you’re actually not that bad for a beginner.’

Nicole smiled and her eyes softened. ‘Really?’

Wynonna opened her palms, innocently, and appealed to Nicole. ‘Would I lie?’

‘Yes.’ Categorically yes.

‘To you?’

‘Most definitely.’ Nicole nodded, matter-of-factly.

‘Well, you’re going to have to take my word for it. If that’s just a couple of weeks practice,’ she strode over to where the guitar had clattered to the floor, and plucked it from where it had landed, ‘Practice will make perfect,’ she said, dusting the instrument off. 

The Heir handed the guitar back to Nicole. ‘Thanks.’ The Sheriff was relieved to find that the guitar had sustained minimal damage from its fall. Not only were guitar repair shops not considered essential services, making the chances of actually getting the thing fixed quite small, but there was a retired Sheriff out there who wouldn’t be just mad at her for breaking his guitar. Oh no, he would be disappointed, and the sight of a disappointed Nedley might just kill Nicole.

‘And er, Nicole?’

‘Yeah?’ Nicole tore herself away from inspecting the guitar for any further damage and met Wynonna’s eyes.

‘I got you,’ she said, earnestly.

Nicole frowned. ‘What do you mean?’

‘Well, when you need some time to practice, you don’t always need to sneak around. I’ll take Waverly out or _run with you_.’ Wynonna emphasised the last three words with little air quotes, just to make sure Nicole knew she had no intention of actually running.

The Sheriff smiled, gratefully. ‘Thanks Wynonna, I appreciate it. I realise this all sounds weird. I just, I need you to keep this a secret from Waverly.’

Wynonna smirked. ‘I’ve got years of practice; do not worry your pretty little red-head about that Major Haught’.

Of course, she did. How could Nicole forget? ‘Thanks.’

‘No problem,’ Wynonna put her hands to her waist, once again revealing Peacemeaker, this time in a much less intimidatory fashion. ‘So,’ the Heir quirked an eyebrow. ‘Am I getting that show or…?’

‘What show?’ Nicole asked, her brow crinkling in confusion.

‘You know,’ she gesticulated, ‘now I’ve said I’ll cover for you, we’re friends again, and your guitar’s fine…’

Ah, Nicole understood. Wynonna wanted to hear her play. There was no way that was happening. If Nicole had her way, Wynonna would never hear her play, and she certainly wouldn’t be hearing her play before Waverly had. Thankfully, she knew the most effective way to oust a dry, and persistent Wynonna. 

Clasping her fingers around the zipper on her running jacket, she began to slowly release it. ‘Oh,’ Nicole glanced up and met Wynonna with narrowed eyes. ‘Oh you mean, this show?’

Wynonna’s eyes widened in terror. ‘What?!’ She screeched. Disgusted by the sliver of Nicole’s neckline that was now on show, she hastily retreated, throwing her hands up to shield herself from the heinous view. She knocked awkwardly into the lodge’s timber door frame, dislodging a cloud of dust and spring pollens that rained down upon her. ‘No, gross, no…,’ she manged, before turning on her heels and making a quick escape, back to the safety of the Homestead.

‘Bye Wynonna!’ Nicole smiled gleefully. Not only had she managed to oust Wynonna, pretty damn effectively if she did say so herself, she’d managed to oust her without one mention of the ring she’d hidden, back in the barn. Maybe this was going to all work out just the way Nicole had planned, after all.

* * *

Waverly padded through to the kitchen, coffee cup in hand. Turns out getting up before 7am to see where your girlfriend had been absconding to in the early hours of the morning was tiring work, but it had been worth it though, just for the shorts. Oh, how it had been worth it.

She grabbed the pot and poured herself a generous cup of the sweet, sweet nectar, before heading back out of the kitchen and making her way up the stairs. Her Nicole was home, and safe and in the shower. So, she was going to do what any decent girlfriend would do; get herself back into bed and wait for her, preferably with the minimum amount of clothing necessary.

The youngest Earp smiled to herself as she heard the drumming of water coming from the bathroom. Her baby was getting all clean, just for her. Once in her bedroom, well, their bedroom, she had a sneaky glance in the wash basket. As suspected, Nicole had already neatly done away with her running clothes. Her girlfriend rarely did stray from type, and she loved her dearly for it. 

Shuffling over to the dresser, Waverly threw her fluffy purple robe onto the bed, yanked a drawer open and began to rummage through it; on the hunt for the biggest, comfiest, most oversized sweater she could find. Her eyes lit up once they’d spied what they’d been searching for. Waverly dragged it from the drawer and tugged it over her already messy head of hair, letting it fall over her and settle, grazing the top of her thighs.

Waverly jumped at the sudden, harsh sound of a phone vibrating against a hard surface, and her eyes quickly located the culprit. Nicole had left her phone atop the dresser. Now, Waverly knew Nicole’s phone was passcode protected, it had to be as it doubled up as her work phone. The Purgatory Sheriff’s Department couldn’t afford to stump up for any phone manufactured post Glee-era. However, Waverly also knew Nicole’s passcode, just as Nicole’s Face ID was registered to her device. Unfortunately, Waverly didn’t need Nicole’s passcode to see that her girlfriend had just received a text from Shae. Shae, the beautiful rock-climbing goddess. Shae, the disgustingly smart medical doctor. Shae, the ex-wife.

Waverly tore her eyes away from the phone. She couldn’t look, could she? No, she couldn’t. That would be a huge betrayal of trust. _But texting your ex-wife without me knowing could also interpreted as a huge betrayal of trust, Nicole._ Waverly found her eyes inexplicably drawn to the phone; its screen was still illuminated, and the words Waverly found there shone brightly. 

**_Hey Nic. Spoken to mom, she says hi! Needs me to head round on Sunday with groceries. Can we reschedule drinks for Monday instead? Let me know – Torchbearer._ **

She felt a tightness in her chest. It was happening again. It always happened, didn’t it? Like with Ward and her mother, like with the god damn curse that never wanted her, but surely, surely not with Nicole. Not her Nicole. Waverly blinked back hot, prickling tears that had come form nowhere. It made so little sense, but at the same time, so much sense. The early mornings, the runs, the evasiveness. 

The phone screen reverted to black once again and Waverly was left, barefoot and helpless. _Her mom says hi?!_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Gosh. One more chapter to go. All comments are welcome, thank you for reading!


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